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David Ernenwein

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David has been playing Magic since Odyssey block. A dedicated Spike, he's been grinding tournaments for over a decade, including a Pro Tour appearance. A Modern specialist who dabbles in Legacy, his writing is focused on metagame analysis and deck evolution.

It annoys me greatly when I hear people derisively discuss the size of the Modern cardpool. The typical conversation revolves around deriding some odd card choice in someone’s deck because it isn’t “good enough” to see play in Modern or dismissing someone’s brew because it “has no staying power.” Part of me is always angered […]

In my continuing effort to simplify and explain the complicated nature of sideboarding in Modern, I’ve fielded a number of questions about techniques and specific strategies. This makes me happy, since it shows that my readership is engaged, thoughtful, and inquisitive, everything that I could ask for as an author. What has made me less […]

Sideboarding is a skill-intensive and essential component of competitive Magic.Ā While it isn’t an “Easy to learn, hard to master”Ā skill, it feels very close. Sideboarding guides can be useful to overcome this learning curve, but they can also become a crutch and actively harmful to your chances of improving. Last week I went over the basics […]

Welcome to the second edition of Beginner’s Guide, the article series where we help Standard players make the transition to Modern. Two weeks ago I talked about the importance of choosing and then mastering your deck. This week we discuss sideboarding, easily the hardest and most essential part of Modern. In my experience, players moving […]

That was quite a weekend, wasn’t it? Two Modern Grand Prix and neither was won by a Tier 1Ā deck. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Modern is wide open! You can play anything and win. The key to success isn’t positioning and metagaming, although both can help, but rather practice and mastery of […]

So, you want to play Modern? Iā€™ve been hearing a lot of that lately. Standard players have been flocking into the format since the start of Eldrazi Winter. A good number also flocked out when that anomaly was corrected, but quite a few have stuck around and by my observations seem a bit lost. Modern […]

Magic is not an exact science. Playstyle, both players’ shuffling techniques, deck composition, and mistakes are just a few variables that you’d need to control or eliminate to get a truly rigorous scientific analysis of deck performance and winning probability. Instead we tend to focus on results and how a deck will play over multiple […]

Testing. It is the soul of tournament play. Honing and crafting your deck and play, optimizing them to dominate the competition. The eternal quest for the glory of victory on the back of your own creation! It isĀ this siren’s call that keeps us playing and the dream that drives us forward. Of course, anyone who […]

Another week and I’m happy to report that Modern has returned to normal, and in many ways has never looked healthier. Everywhere you look there is diversity, brewing, and innovationĀ in old lists. And no Tron! It’s always a good day when there is no Tron! I’d like to say that I was tested and prepared […]

Welcome to theĀ third week of the new Modern. For manyĀ of us this is probably the most significant weekĀ simply because nowĀ is when the new IQ season really kicks off. Yes, there were a few IQ’s last week concurrent with the Baltimore Open, but thisĀ is the week that stores nationally really started to host tournaments, allowing Modern […]

Welcome to the second week of the new Modern era! If the chatter in discussion threads and the various articles from the past week are any indication, everyone is happily brewing away with the new toys from Wizards. Control mages areĀ eagerly waiting for Ancestral Vision to tick down and aggro players areĀ happily ruining it by […]

Rejoice, fellow Nexites! The Powers-That-Be have at last stepped in to put an end to Eldrazi Winter. We may at lastĀ emerge from the ruins, gaze upon the metagame again with clear eyes and eager hearts, and go forth and enjoy this beautiful new world. Breathe in, good Nexites, and breathe out a great, joyful sigh […]

IT HAS BEGUN! It is, at last, coming to FRUITION! They laughed at me, said it was impossible, said I was wasting my, SAID IT WOULD DRIVE ME MAD! MAD! Do you remember, DO YOU REMEMBER IT, Morgenthau? Remember how they said that the Storm itself was perfect, that attempting to harness it and turn […]

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